For households and other locations served by only a single telephone line, when that telephone line is utilized for data communication, e.g., via modem, call waiting, if subscribed to, is typically disabled. This disabling is often performed by the dialing software, which dials an appropriate prefix code for disabling call waiting before dialing the telephone number at which is located the remote device with which the data communication will take place.
When the data communication is for purposes of enabling a user to communicate with remote sites via the Internet, the data communication session can take a long time, e.g., several hours, or longer. Because of a) transmission errors, b) delays in communication over the Internet, c) problems at the Internet service provider (ISP) to which the call was placed for access to the Internet, d) software errors, and e) the like, one may become disconnected from the Internet, with the connection to the ISP being dropped. During peak usage periods, and under other situations, such disconnection may occur several times during an Internet session, and, in fact, several such disconnects may occur within a relatively short period of time, e.g., within several minutes of each other. When one gets disconnected, there is a tendency to simply redial to reestablish the connection. This can be done very quickly using the dialing software, which, typically, also is combined with automatic logon software.
Since there is only one telephone line, and call waiting has been disabled or is not provisioned therefor, it is ordinarily not possible to reach the user by telephone while the user is engaged on the Internet session. This is because, by virtue of the lack of call waiting, the connection from the user to the ISP will not be disturbed by an incoming call and any caller will receive a busy signal. Consequently, in the event of an extraordinary circumstance, such as an emergency, the only resort of a party needing to contact the user by telephone is to call the telephone company and arrange for an operator to attempt an emergency interrupt for the user's telephone line.